SO it has been far too long since I’ve posted on the blog but now it seems I have some down time in Mumbai (and I don’t want to write an essay) so I am going to try to bring this blog up to date.
HAMPI
INCREDIBLE… Probably my favorite place thus far. Think of an amazing geographical landscape that has ancient ruins littered all over. Funny thing is the essay I am suppose to write atm is on Hampi. Maybe this can be my introduction.
So Hampi is located south of Pune about a 10 hour bus ride away. It is in the state of Karnataka. When Crystal and I arrived Friday morning, we ate our breakfast in a roof top restaurant over looking an incredible temple. We found a guest house to stay in and proceeded to rent scooters for the day. We heard of this rock climbing place and wanted to do it. Hope on our scooters and just start driving in the direction of rock climbing. The drive included passing through ancient gates and driving past ruins. There were literally ruins EVERYWHERE. So we get lost, no surprise. We decided to make the best of it. Crystal noticed a little temple a top of a hill. Pull over, lock up the bikes and start blazing our own trail up the hill. It took some time and involved a little bit of bouldering and walking through thorns. It made us wonder when was the last time someone ventured up to this temple. We were greeted with amazing views of the surround area. For the rest of the day we should happily rode our bikes around without caring or knowing where we were heading. We stopped at the temple which is still used. Outside the temple was a Giant tree with monkeys it. First time I’ve seen monkeys in the wild. Well one peed on me. Bastard. But they’re still cute and we got some nice photos of them. We ate dinner at this restaurant where you sit on the ground in this hut overlooking the river. BEAUTIFUL. I decided after dinner that I wanted to go for a swim. I asked and they said it was safe. I walk into the water and want to get to this rock in the middle of the river. Well the current was a lot stronger than I thought and I got swept off my feet and brought down stream. I wasn’t worried due to my river tubing skills I’ve acquired with Jessica over the years. I grab a rock and pull myself out and start to hope along the rocks to try to get back to where I was. Where I entered the river was the only place that you could get out without walking through thorns. At one point you have to jump back in the water to swim to the next rock, against the current. Well got swept away again. This happened once again. Finally the third try I made it out. So my swim consisted of being swept away and than trying to get out of the water.
The next day everyone else arrives (the other Canadians). Crystal and I decided that we want to check out and stay on the other side of the river (Only way across is on a small little boat.) We find a guesthouse which has a hammock in the front! SCORE! We rented scooters again and decided to go our separate ways. My day resulted in making my own road through the desert going from ruin to ruin. At one point these kids came out of no where and so I gave them I ride on the scooter. They then demanded gum or money and wouldn’t let me leave until I gave them some gum. Luckily I had some. At one temple I met this guy from England and these two Girls from Austria. We talked a bit and they seemed like awesome people. We went our separate after that but through out the rest of the day I kept running into them everywhere. Small world. I had a late lunch at the place where had dinner the previous day. There I ran into Jon (another exchange student.) Jon, Ali and Liv were going up to the top of a mountain, on top of a temple to watch the sunset. So I joined them. Awesome hike. All the exchange students met for dinner later on at this restaurant called the Mango tree. Words cannot describe the atmosphere. Super chill terraces all facing the river (which you couldn’t see, but you could hear because it was pitch black out.) You sat on the ground at these low tables and ate by lantern light. Awesome! SO the last ferry across the river is at 630 and well when I wanted to go back over (Crystal was already there and didn’t join us for dinner) it was 1030. What you do to get back across is you stand by the shore and try to signal to people on the other side. They paddle over in this “boat” that is a circle made of bamboo and palm leaves covered in some sort of resin. They then paddle you across and charge 200 INR when in the daytime it cost 20 INR. Oh well I got across and apparently it’s illegal to cross the river at night. I’m a rebel. That night I slept on the hammock outside.
Crystal and I rented bicycles at 6 am to try to make it to this monkey temple for sunrise.. Well we got lost instantly. By the time we found our way the sun had already risen. We still climbed the crazy amount of stairs up to the monkey temple and still had amazing views of the sun climbing higher into the ski. We then proceeded to bike to Anagundi where the rock climbing was, only to find out it didn’t open until 10 am. It was our last day and we had to catch a bus at 5 pm and we still wanted to go to these waterfalls. So we turned around disappointed. Had lunch with everyone again at the Mango Tree and then biked to the water falls. To get to them you park your bike at the entrance to the trail and then walk through a banana plantation. As you approach the falls it feels like you are on a different planet. Amazing rock formations. There are these cliffs you can jump off of that are around 7m high. Sick times!
Hampi is a must see if you ever find yourself in India!
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